Wood chips or pine pellets?

[Chickendilly]

I am a new chicken owner. They have been in their outdoor run and coop for a little over a week. And, of course, they have eaten all of the grass that was in the run, so it's time to put something else down. In their coop, I have a mix of hemp and pine shavings and PDZ in a poop tray.

I am in Austin, TX, so it gets very hot, and we've had an unusually wet summer. The flies in the run are terrible! Ideally, whatever I put down would help with that, if possible. I am thinking of using wood mulch or horse pine pellets in the run. Which do you recommend?

If mulch, I can get a cypress blend or pine bark nuggets. Any advantages or disadvantages?

If I use the pellets, will they be difficult for the chicks to walk on? Should I spray them down first to soften them up a bit?

Thanks for any advice you have!

 

[OnlySympathy]

I highly recommend pine bark nuggets. They are have great drainage and airflow so it doesn’t get anaerobic. I’ve noticed a lot less flies and stink ever since I moved to it around a year ago

 

[McChooky]

I have a covered run that's used as a coop and run both so I use pine pellets.Unless your run is covered I wouldn't recommend using them. They'll be blown away in high winds when dry or washed away in heavy rains.

 

[texsuze]

I don't recommend either pine pellets or mulch for your run. You could take advantage of the dirt that has remained now that grass is mostly gone (chickens love dirt baths), just leaving as is, but add some coarse sand to a section of the run to see how they/it responds. You don't want to add any additional water to the ground (I'm in the Hill Country, lots of much-needed rain this year ) as this will bring more flies. I pick poop out of my sand-based run at least once a day--that will do wonders to keeping fly populations at bay, especially if your chickens will not be free-ranging outside the run.